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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26893894">The Truths We Cling To</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl'>TheSecondBatgirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, CT-6116 | Kix Needs A Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Gen, Jedi Culture Respected, M/M, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:08:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,088</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26893894</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kix is found six months before the events of A New Hope. Everything changes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CT-6116 | Kix &amp; Chewbacca, CT-6116 | Kix &amp; Han Solo, CT-6116 | Kix &amp; Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; CT-6116 | Kix, Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Luke Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>94</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>290</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1 - Kix</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A million thanks to ilyena_sylph and rivulet027 for the hand holding and cheerleading.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Kix wakes up.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was cold.</p>
<p>Why was it so cold? The last thing he remembered was Seppies. And something about…. The chips. Fives.</p>
<p>“Easy,” an unfamiliar voice said. “Cryo-sickness is the worst.”</p>
<p>He had been in cryo-stasis? That was… he didn’t remember how.</p>
<p>“Who?” he managed to say. “When?”</p>
<p>He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes. It took time for cryo-sickness to clear up, and if he’d been frozen long enough for it to set in, well… that wasn’t great.</p>
<p>“Considering you look like a clone trooper, at least eighteen years,” the voice said, and there was a rumble that sounded like agreement. A Wookie? Maybe he should have asked <em>where</em> he was.</p>
<p>“Eighteen?” That wasn’t possible. “How?”</p>
<p>Had the Seppies won? What happened to his brothers? The generals? </p>
<p>Could this be some sort of trap? If he’d been captured, he <em>knew</em> Ventress wasn’t above playing mind games.</p>
<p>He opened his eyes. Blinked a few times, and then things started to come into focus. This definitely wasn’t a Separatist ship, and the only people he could see were a human and a Wookie. He was on some sort of bunk, and the ship didn’t seem to be big enough to hold very many more people.</p>
<p>“The Empire took over about eighteen years ago,” the human said. “Separatists just stopped fighting right around Empire Day. The Jedi were all killed as traitors.”</p>
<p>The Wookie said something and the human turned to him. “What do you mean, not exactly, Chewie? How do you know?”</p>
<p>The Wookie, Chewie, Kix guessed, said something again, and Kix suddenly really wished that he spoke Shyriiwook.</p>
<p>The human shook his head. “Anyway, I’m Han Solo, Captain of the Millennium Falcon. This is Chewbacca, my First Mate.”</p>
<p>“CT-6116, Lt. Kix, of the 501st,” Kix said. He managed to sit up, although he held onto the side of the bunk as he did.</p>
<p>“Vader’s Fist,” Solo whispered.</p>
<p>“No, our general is Anakin Skywalker,” Kix said. “Who is Vader?”</p>
<p>Chewbacca let out a long, mournful sound.</p>
<p>“Emperor’s enforcer,” Solo said. “Skywalker vanished around the time the Clone Wars ended. Most people think Vader killed him along with the other Jedi.”</p>
<p>“And he took the 501st?” Kix said in horror. The idea of his general being dead did not register. This was General <em>Skywalker</em>. The hero without fear. He was like General Kenobi. He was unkillable. </p>
<p>But his brothers… that he was worried about. If some sort of monster, if someone like <em>Krell</em> had them. If Rex, and Coric, or <em>Jesse</em> were under some monster’s command….</p>
<p>Solo looked even more uncomfortable. “They’re the legion most people are scared of,” he said. “I don’t know if any of the clones are still there.”</p>
<p>Kix wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “We would never have worked for the person who might have… we’re loyal to the <em>Republic</em>,” he stressed.</p>
<p>“The Republic is long gone now, Kix.”</p>
<p>“We were made for the Republic,” Kix said, and he was desperately trying to hold onto some sense of calm, the way he’d vaguely seen General Skywalker try to teach Commander Tano, but he didn’t think even the Jedi would be able to be calm after hearing that <em>there was no Republic anymore</em>. “For the Jedi.”</p>
<p>If anything, Solo looked more uncomfortable. “Well, you’ll have to find something else then. You good at anything?”</p>
<p>“I’m a medic,” Kix said automatically.</p>
<p>“That would be useful,” Solo said slowly. “You’d be welcome to stay here, if you want.” He hesitated. “Look, you’ve got no reason to trust me. I’m based out of Tatooine, and I can drop you off there, if you don’t want to stick around. But I saw the news reports when I was a kid, and Chewie seems to trust you so far, and he’s the best judge of character I know. You’re welcome to stay around.”</p>
<p>Kix raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll think about it,” he said noncommittally. He still… had to emotionally process that this was real. It didn’t make any sense for it to be a Seppie trick, but after finding out about the chips, well, he was willing to believe just about anything.</p>
<p>“Here,” Solo said, shoving a datapad at him. “You can search to confirm what I’ve told you. Just… be careful about searching for the Jedi. I <em>really</em> don’t want Vader coming after me. I’ve got enough trouble staying on Jabba’s good side.”</p>
<p>Solo wandered towards the cockpit, the Wookie following behind him, leaving Kix along with the datapad and his thoughts. He hesitantly turned it on and began to search. It was an unrestricted datapad, and this was all too indepth to be some sort of Seppie trick. He couldn’t imagine what the point would be, why they would be trying to pull this sort of ruse on him. So he started looking.</p>
<p>It wasn’t hard to confirm everything that Solo had told him. He knew how to filter information, and the Imperial propaganda was just as ridiculous as the Separatist version had been. He had <em>lived through</em> some of these events. And sure, the Republic hadn’t been perfect (and he flinched a little just thinking of that, because he was a Good Soldier and he had been made for the Republic) but there was absolutely <em>no way</em> that it was as corrupt as these reports were saying it was.</p>
<p>And he could never believe that the Jedi were trying to overthrow the Republic. He was a member of the 501st under General Skywalker. He couldn’t imagine anyone who cared <em>less</em> about politics then his general did. Even General Kenobi, the Negotiator, had made his dislike of politics (and politicians) public. The Jedi had spent so much time saying that they were supposed to be Peacekeepers, not… the generals that the war had turned them into. Which of them would have actually wanted to take over the Republic?</p>
<p>Not any Jedi he could think of.</p>
<p>(Dooku was a Sith, he did not count.)</p>
<p>It… hurt. A lot. Reading the confirmation of what Solo had told him. The 501st were now the most feared legion in this Empire. His brothers, the ones that were left, under the control of the Sith. Fighting alongside the Natborns that had replaced them.</p>
<p>They were meant for the Jedi, and now the Jedi were gone, and…</p>
<p>He read that last report again.</p>
<p>And again.</p>
<p>So that was what the chips were for.</p>
<p>His brothers had murdered their Jedi.</p>
<p>Maybe it wasn’t this Vader who had killed General Skywalker. Maybe it had been Rex. Or Appo. Or <em>Jesse</em>. (Unless General Skywalker had been forced to kill them, when the chip activated. But he couldn’t… he couldn’t even process that right now.)</p>
<p>For the first time, he was grateful that Commander Tano had left the Order. Maybe she had been spared. He hoped that she had been. That there was someone in this horrible future that he knew. But that would also mean that she had lived through all of this, seen what had happened to the Order, and he knew that even with everything that had happened at her trial, she still considered them to be her family.</p>
<p>There were no good answers here.</p>
<p>He turned the datapad off, and rolled over, trying to sleep, in the hopes that he would be able to make sense of any of this next rotation.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>So it turned out that sleep didn’t actually help when your sleep was filled with nightmares about <em>not</em> having been caught by separatists and instead you murdered your Jedi. Kix clung desperately to the caf he was handed when he finally just… gave up on sleeping. There were only so many times he could dream of himself or his brothers murdering their Jedi. </p>
<p>The remains of the cryo-freezing sickness didn’t really help either.</p>
<p>Caf. Caf helped.</p>
<p>“What are we doing now?” he asked. </p>
<p>“Did you finish your research?” Solo said with a hint of surprise.</p>
<p>Kix shook his head. “I need a break from it,” he explained, and Solo gave him a quick nod and took a drink of his own caf.</p>
<p>Chewbacca said something, and Solo quickly translated. “He wants to know if you have any questions so far.”</p>
<p>The only real question Kix had wasn’t actually about anything he had read before he had slept.</p>
<p>“Why are you helping me?” he asked finally.</p>
<p>Solo hesitated. “Chewie likes you,” he said after an awkward pause. Chewbacca said something again, and Kix could almost make out the chiding in his tone.</p>
<p>“Come on pal, none of that mushy stuff,” Solo said crossly. He sighed. “You needed some help, okay? And I just had to dump a load of spice, which is how we found you, so I’m really not looking forward to having to tell Jabba about it.”</p>
<p>“I can understand that,” Kix said slowly. He also remembered both what Solo had said about Kix being a medic, and remembered what Solo had said before about watching the news reports as a kid, and well, Kix had grown up on Kamino and he had served with several Jedi, so he was incredibly familiar with the look of someone who did not want to talk about their feelings.</p>
<p>Solo seemed like a decent guy, for all that he was making ridiculous excuses to just not say “because it’s the right thing to do.”</p>
<p>He gave Solo an out by picking the datapad back up, and began reading, only to nearly choke on his caf when he caught a detail he had missed last night. He must have been more affected by everything that he had thought if he had missed this.</p>
<p>“Chancellor Palpatine is the Emperor,” he read out loud. “The Chancellor. He turned the Republic into an Empire? Are you kriffing kidding me?”</p>
<p>This couldn’t be possible. He knew how much General Skywalker cared about the Chancellor. The whole war was about protecting the Republic. And if the Chancellor of the Republic had….</p>
<p>The same Chancellor who had claimed Fives had tried to kill him right after Fives had found out about the chips.</p>
<p><em>Kriff</em>.</p>
<p>“This future is horrible,” Kix said.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>With no other real options, Kix decided to stay with Han and Chewie (as they had insisted they be called, and Kix knew the importance of calling people by their chosen names). They had both stressed that while they technically worked with the Hutts, they only dealt in spice. Which, fine. It wasn’t sentients. Kix still remembered the aftermath of Zyggeria and Kadavo. That was a line he was never going to cross.</p>
<p>And it wasn’t like there was anything else he could really do. Any sort of legitimate work would involve working with the Empire, and Kix was not going to do that. Not the people who had killed his Generals and who were holding his brothers. He had nowhere else to go, he knew nobody else - maybe he was right and Commander Tano had been spared, but if she was still alive he had no real way to contact her. And if his brothers really had killed the Jedi, then she probably wouldn’t want anything to do with him.</p>
<p>Or worse, could he be activated? Could he end up hurting or killing her? He wasn’t willing to risk that. Not ever.</p>
<p>It probably wasn’t safe to try and track her, or any of his brothers down. He was stuck in this time and he’d have to make the most of it.</p>
<p>They had been drifting around for almost a month on this point, trying to make as many credits as they could before Han had to go explain to Jabba what had happened.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, they couldn’t avoid it forever, and now they were headed back to Tatooine.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>At the edge of the Jundland Wastes, Obi-Wan Kenobi awoke with a vision from the Force, and a sense that he hadn’t felt for years.</p>
<p><em>Hope</em>.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2 - Obi-Wan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which the Force needs Obi-Wan to get to Mos Eisley.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Tatooine geography makes no sense so I'm ignoring it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the first time in over eighteen years, the Force rang with lightness and hope.</p>
<p>If this was to be the first true vision Obi-Wan had since before Mustafar (visitations from Qui-Gon Jinn did not count, nor did the nightmares he had of Ana - of Vader’s continuing atrocities), then Obi-Wan was glad of it. The Force had been dark for so long now, visions of light and hope and change were far more welcome. Even with this darkness, Obi-Wan trusted in the Force, clung to it, willing to believe in what had made him a Jedi.</p>
<p>He strengthened his shields, the never faltering ones he had constructed upon moving to Tatooine, to protect Luke. Luke, the last hope, the light that he had concentrated on. That he would give all he had left to protect, to ensure that he did not fail another Skywalker the way he had failed…</p>
<p><em>Hope</em>, the Force prodded. <em>Mos Eisley</em>.</p>
<p>Why the Force was prompting him to go to that hive of scum and villainy he had no idea, but failing to listen to the Force was not the way of things. He didn’t think an eopie would be the best way to get there, which meant he needed to throw himself on the generosity of Beru Whitesun-Lars.</p>
<p>After his last confrontation with Owen, when Owen had made it quite clear what he thought of Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan’s influence on any Skywalker, Obi-Wan had made it a point to avoid the Lars moisture farm as much as possible. The last time he had been was just for a moment, after Maul’s death, and even then he had kept his distance in respect of Owen’s wishes.</p>
<p>He was glad that Beru took a slightly different view of family, and had made it a point of keeping Obi-Wan at least slightly updated with Luke’s wellbeing, as well as that of Owen and Beru herself. He was looking out for Luke with the Force, but it was still nice to hear from someone closer to Luke about how he was doing, how he was <em>feeling</em>, and also to commiserate with ways of how completely <em>ridiculous</em> a teenage Skywalker could be.</p>
<p>Even if it hurt to think of the better days, before the Empire. Back when Anakin had….</p>
<p>Owen was right to blame him for what had happened to Anakin.</p>
<p>He closed his eyes, and took a breath, reaching for the Force. He would be mindful of his feelings, and as easy as it could be to get lost in the memories of better times, he had learned his lessons as a Jedi Master well. Patience.  </p>
<p>He still loved Anakin, but Anakin was gone. Owen was Luke’s guardian, and the Jedi did not take children from their guardians except in cases of abuse, and that was not the case here. </p>
<p>Obi-Wan would have to just watch from afar, unless either Luke’s powers became a danger to himself or others, or Owen consented to let Obi-Wan be an active part of their lives. </p>
<p>Luke was rapidly approaching adulthood, and as much as Obi-Wan would like to train him, the Force was not yet pushing him to do so. The time was not yet right, although when he thought about it now, he could almost feel a hint of anticipation. Soon, perhaps. </p>
<p>How he would approach Luke he still was not sure. Eighteen years had given him plenty of time to meditate on the mistakes all had made, but explaining to a child, to <em>anyone</em>, that his father had… that Vader had… </p>
<p>Vader had.</p>
<p>Anakin was gone.</p>
<p>He still had time to figure it out. For now, he needed to borrow a speeder from Beru if he was going to get to Mos Eisley as quickly as the Force was urging him to.</p>
<p>After all, the last time the Force had been this pushy he had been visited by Ezra Bridger and Maul.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Owen and Luke were both working on vaporators when Obi-Wan approached the Lars residence, and Beru was quick to approach when Obi-Wan arrived.</p>
<p>“I wasn’t expecting to see you,” she said in surprise. “I was going to stop by and give you an update on everything next month. There’s nothing exciting here, other than preparations for the harvest, and Owen managing to talk Luke into delaying his application to the Academy.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan winced. “Luke attending the Imperial Academy would be a disaster for him,” he reminded her. “With his piloting skills and last name…” Not to mention his midichlorian count, in case it was ever tested for. With his planet of origin and last name… well, someone <em>might</em>.</p>
<p>“We know,” Beru said softly. “We’ll delay him as long as we can. If we can’t any longer, then I’ll convince Owen to let you explain. For Luke’s safety, he’ll let me.”</p>
<p>“I thank you for that,” Obi-Wan said, taking a sigh of relief before releasing his worry to the Force. “And you know that I would not intrude without good reason.”</p>
<p>“I wish I could say that you were always welcome,” Beru said, and Obi-Wan could tell that she really did mean that. </p>
<p>“If things were different,” he agreed. “But for now, I must ask a favor of you.”</p>
<p>She just stared at him, and Obi-Wan was fifty-seven years old, a Jedi Master, one of the <em>last</em> Jedi, and yet Beru had perfected a stare that would probably make even <em>Master Yoda</em> feel like a youngling again.</p>
<p>“I have to get to Mos Eisley,” he said slowly. “Taking my eopie would not get me there in time.”</p>
<p>“You want to borrow a speeder,” she said flatly.</p>
<p>“I would not ask if it was not important,” Obi-Wan said serenely, as the Force prodded him again. <em>Mos Eisley</em>, it whispered. <em>Soon. Change.</em></p>
<p>She sighed. “And your explanation for Owen is?” </p>
<p>“I admit that I had hoped that you would have a plausible explanation for my use of the speeder for perhaps two days.”</p>
<p>“Considering how he feels about you, there isn’t one that I can think of.”</p>
<p><em>Change</em>, the Force repeated. <em>Needed. Soon</em></p>
<p>Was the Force trying to imply that Owen’s feelings about his role in their lives would be changed if he went and did whatever it was in Mos Eisley that was so important? He had lost hope in that happening years ago.</p>
<p>“There is something in Mos Eisley that will affect you,” Obi-Wan said slowly, feeling the Force thrum in agreement. </p>
<p>“Are you trying to use your magic on me?” she said suspiciously, and Obi-Wan managed to hide back his flinch. He knew they didn’t trust him, but...</p>
<p>“I have never,” he said. “Not on you or Owen or Luke. Not without your permission, and on others only to protect your family.”</p>
<p>“If you were going to, you’d have probably done it to have us let you train Luke a long time ago,” Beru admitted. “It’s that important?”</p>
<p><em>Necessary</em>, the Force whispered.</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>She sighed. “I’ll explain it to Owen, but you had <em>better</em> bring that speeder back in as good shape as you found it, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Mos Eisley was not particularly welcoming to anyone, but this was where the Force was prodding him. He followed his instincts to the far side of the city, and found a (decently safe) place to leave Luke’s speeder near the cantina. Why the Force would be insisting that he head there of all places he could not fathom, but he would have to go on.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan had been in near isolation for so long that the thrum of so many beings around him felt nearly overwhelming. Oppressive. He wasn’t sure though if that was because of the city itself or just because he was unused to being around so many people. There were so many presences in the Force, he couldn’t…</p>
<p>He strengthened his shields, and tried to catch his breath. Once he’d been around so many more people, once he had known how to deal with the feel of others around. </p>
<p>Once things had been different. Once he had been different.</p>
<p>He entered the cantina, and looked around, both with his eyes and with the Force. There did not seem to be any immediate sense of danger, just a feel of anticipation.</p>
<p>And then he caught sight of both a familiar face and a familiar presence, and he had to steady himself.</p>
<p><em>He knew that face</em>.</p>
<p>He had seen that face every day for three years. For a moment, he allowed himself to see a scar on it, but then he made himself focus.</p>
<p>He knew every single detail, from the shape of the nose and eyes, to the sounds of the voice, to the feel of...</p>
<p>A clone.</p>
<p>A clone who appeared to not have aged at all since the war, which he <em>knew</em> was impossible. The healers had never managed to find a cure for the increased aging, after all, and even if it had turned off naturally at some point, whoever this was would still be older. And it wasn’t Boba.</p>
<p>He knew this presence. He had known how every single one of his men had felt in the Force, up until the day their presences all vanished and they had… they had…</p>
<p>Until they had felt like nothing more than droids.</p>
<p>He still had no idea how that had happened, how they had gone from… how Cody had….</p>
<p>He knew this presence. </p>
<p><em>Friend</em>, the whisper came. <em>Family.</em></p>
<p>It wasn’t just a trooper, it was someone he knew. Not one of the 212th, he knew immediately. And not a commander. This was one of the 501st. One of… one of Anakin’s troopers.</p>
<p><em>How</em>?</p>
<p>He walked towards the corner, and he absently noted the clone’s companion was holding a blaster aimed at him, but he had to…</p>
<p>“Kix?” he gasped out.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3 - Kix</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Kix meets an old friend.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The weird thing about working as a smuggler was that this was probably the least Kix had ever been shot at.</p>
<p>Well, he had gone from training on Kamino to fighting a war, so he guessed it was a good thing.</p>
<p>Han was supposed to meet with Jabba the next rotation to explain the “unfortunate loss of credits,” but until then they had stopped in the cantina to get something to eat and try and relax. Well, for a version of relax that meant “still have your blasters at the ready in case Jabba is impatient and decides he just wants Han dead” or “in case someone recognizes Kix as a clone and decides to just kill him.”</p>
<p>It was, Kix had learned in the month or so he’d been flying with Han, apparently the clones’ fault that the Empire existed. The clones and the Jedi. He’d desperately wanted to shoot something, <em>anything</em>, the first time he’d run across that analysis on the holonet.</p>
<p>Most of his brothers were dead now. Killed in action serving the Empire, killed by the rapid aging, or just killed by people who blamed them for everything, because they were a convenient scapegoat. That was why it was the clone war, after all. Not the Separatist war.</p>
<p>Kix tried not to concentrate on his morbid thoughts, and instead took another drink of his ale. He missed 79’s, more than he ever thought he would. Of course, at this point he almost missed Separatists shooting at him. </p>
<p>It was certainly easier to miss that then to miss the people.</p>
<p>Not that everything was all bad. He’d actually really liked traveling with Han and Chewie. They were understanding of what had happened and gave him the time to process it without prying. They didn’t really ask for anything other than helping out on the ship (which frankly, Kix would have done anyway, because he <em>needed</em> something to do so help him) and the missions they ran were interesting.</p>
<p>Chewie said something, and Kix tried to translate it. “Someone watching?” he asked, and Chewie growled an affirmative. His Shyriiwook had improved under Han and Chewie’s tutelage over the last month, although he still wasn’t anything he’d call fluent.</p>
<p>Han was reaching for his blaster, and Kix turned just enough to see that there was someone just inside the cantina who was staring right at him. He could almost feel the weight of the glance, the intent gaze that he half remembered from when General Skywalker or Commander Tano had been doing <em>something</em> with the Force.</p>
<p>It was an older man, who seemed vaguely familiar, but Kix couldn’t place him immediately. The beard was familiar, and for a second he thought of General Kenobi, but this guy was too old to be the general; he was a natborn, not a clone! Eighteen years was a long time, but there was no way it could have aged General Kenobi like that</p>
<p>The man walked towards Kix in a rush, and then he… “Kix?” the man said, and Kix could have been gone for fifty years and he wouldn’t have forgotten that voice.</p>
<p>Han’s finger brushed against the trigger, but Kix shook his head.</p>
<p>“General?” he said in amazement. “How?”</p>
<p>“I should be asking you that,” General Kenobi said, and there was an undercurrent of wonder in his voice. “We thought you had been killed.” He managed a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, nothing like the way Kix had seen him smile at General Skywalker, or Commander Tano, or Commander Cody, for that matter. Or even how he’d seen General Kenobi smile at tea, once, after Zyggeria, although considering everything he couldn’t really judge him for that.</p>
<p>“Cryo-freeze by Seppies,” Kix explained quickly. He gestured to a chair. “Please, General, sit down!”</p>
<p>“I’m not your General anymore,” General Kenobi said softly, but he sat down as he said it. “You can call me Ben, as that is what I go by in the here and now.” He hesitated. “Although, and I do mean no offense to your companions, but I’m not sure that this is the best place to be having this conversation.”</p>
<p>Since General Kenobi was <em>alive</em>, which was still amazing and suddenly Kix wasn’t <em>all alone</em> and maybe he could actually get some answers to his questions.</p>
<p>But there was absolutely no way he would call him by a first name, not <em>now</em>.</p>
<p>“Of course, Sir,” he agreed.</p>
<p>General Kenobi sighed. “I could never win this argument,” he said fondly. “Not with any of your brothers.” </p>
<p>“Who am I to break tradition?” Kix said.</p>
<p>General Kenobi turned to Han and Chewie. “Hello, there,” he said. “I do apologize for intruding on your conversation. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen my friend.”</p>
<p>“Eighteen years, I’d expect,” Han said. “I’m Han Solo, Captain of the Millennium Falcon. This is Chewbacca.”</p>
<p>“A pleasure,” General Kenobi said. He hesitated, and looked at Chewbacca. “Forgive me, but your name is familiar to me. I believe you once aided my….” he trailed off, as though he was trying to find the right word. “My student,” he said finally. “Against some Trandoshans.”</p>
<p>“How did you know about that?” Kix asked. “And wait a second, that was you?” he turned to Chewbacca accusingly.</p>
<p>“Someone had to actually read the reports,” General Kenobi said dryly. “I didn’t just ask for them for no reason.” He paused. “Although I had to resort to a significant amount of bribery to get the actual details from anyone other than Rex.”</p>
<p>Kix snorted.</p>
<p>“She was a good student,” Chewbacca agreed, speaking slowly so that Kix could catch everything. “I am sorry for your losses.”</p>
<p>General Kenobi nodded in thanks, although he didn’t respond directly, and Kix turned back to Chewbacca. “You didn’t tell me,” he accused.</p>
<p>“Learn more Shyriiwook first,” Chewbacca told him. “Much to say, after that.”</p>
<p>“I can translate!” Han protested.</p>
<p>Chewbacca said something quickly and far more complicated than Kix could understand, and Han winced. “Fine,” he said finally. “But I want to hear about it someday.”</p>
<p>“Someday,” Chewbacca said. He looked at Kix and General Kenobi. “You must have much to say.”</p>
<p>“We do,” General Kenobi agreed. “I’m not actually sure where we should start, but we can’t discuss it here.”</p>
<p>“You can use the Falcon,” Han said, and Kix flashed him a grateful smile. </p>
<p>“Thank you, Captain,” General Kenobi said.</p>
<p>“No problem, <em>General</em>,” Han agreed, and General Kenobi flinched slightly, noticeable only because Kix was so familiar with him. </p>
<p>“Just Ben, please,” General Kenobi said pleasantly. “War is long over.”</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Kix and General Kenobi walked back to the Falcon in silence. Kix wasn’t sure where exactly he even wanted to begin with questions. There was so much he needed to know. Were any of the other Jedi alive? Had any of his brothers freed themselves of the chips? What was General Kenobi doing here, on Tatooine, of all places? Was this some sort of mission for the Rebellion that Kix had heard about? </p>
<p>The two of them settled at the table, and General Kenobi cleared his throat.</p>
<p>“We did look for you,” he said quietly. “It was a low priority mission for much of the Seventh Sky. It was suggested that you had deserted,” and he held up his hand to defer any of Kix’s protests that he would have <em>never</em>, “but we knew you better than that.” He smiled wanly. “You’d have never done that to Jesse.”</p>
<p>“You knew about that?” Kix asked in surprise.</p>
<p>“Contrary to what Ana - what certain people thought, I was not nearly as oblivious to such things as they assumed.” He hesitated again. “How is it that you still feel like yourself? Your brothers, all of them, they changed, right at the end of the war.”</p>
<p>“Changed?” Kix asked.</p>
<p>General Kenobi took a minute to gather his thoughts, which was slightly unnerving to Kix. The Negotiator had always been good with words, and he certainly put more thought into them than General Skywalker always had, but General Kenobi was also usually quick to respond, ready with a quip at all times. This was disquieting.</p>
<p>“I think you’ve heard me say before that all of you felt differently in the Force,” he began. “That all of you were such individuals with such distinct personalities that I could never understand how people didn’t see it. How people like Krell could be so dismissive of you.”</p>
<p>Kix fought a wince at Krell’s name.</p>
<p>“My apologies,” General Kenobi said quietly. “Perhaps eighteen years with nobody to talk to has dulled my ability to explain things.”</p>
<p>“It’s fine, General,” Kix said automatically, and General Kenobi shook his head.</p>
<p>“Not if I’m hurting you,” he said. “But I was trying to explain what happened. We were celebrating Grievous’s death, and preparing to return to Coruscant when the way everyone felt in the Force just changed, and I…. I was being shot off a cliff.” He took a deep breath. “I knew every single presence in the Force of the 212th, and suddenly they felt no more than… than what droids felt like. Like all of their individuality had been swept away.”</p>
<p>“Someone must have activated the chips,” Kix said.</p>
<p>“The chips?” General Kenobi asked in confusion.</p>
<p>Kix stared at him in horror. “You really don’t know?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next time, we finish a conversation and Obi-Wan has a lot of feelings.</p>
<p>I am overwhelmed by the response to this! Thank you all so much!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4 - Obi-Wan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Obi-Wan finds out about the chips, and plots to get it out of Kix's head.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I am borrowing the Tatooine Freedom Trail and singers from the various Tatooine Slave Culture fics started by Fialleril.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kix was <em>here</em> and he was alive and he still felt like the medic that Obi-Wan had known for three years, and Obi-Wan had never thought that he’d actually be grateful to the Separatists for capturing one of his men, but it somehow meant that Kix was <em>here</em> and Obi-Wan wasn’t entirely alone anymore, and he kept having to reinforce his shields so he wouldn't project his joy all over the place.</p><p>It had been so hard on the walk from the cantina to the ship not to immediately start asking how Kix still felt like himself, how his presence hadn’t blurred in the Force the way every other clone he had seen since Utapau had, but he didn’t dare have that conversation where people might put together the Ben Kenobi talking to a clone with Obi-Wan Kenobi, not when there was still a rather large bounty on his head.</p><p>But then it seemed like Kix knew what had happened.</p><p>“Chips?” he asked.</p><p>“You really don’t know?” Kix said, and the horror radiating off of him was palpable in the Force.</p><p>“I… think I remember something about it, towards the end of the war,” Obi-Wan said finally. “That was when Fives was killed, right before you disappeared.”</p><p>“Yes, Sir,” Kix said. “And Tup. And General Tiplar.”</p><p>Obi-Wan thought about it. “I vaguely remember Shaak Ti telling us that there was a chip to regulate aggression, and that removing it was what had caused Fives to try and kill Palpatine. She was going to investigate it, but we never had the time.” He bit back the comment of wishing that Fives had succeeded. </p><p>“Not sure Fives was actually trying, considering what I read later. But they were mind control chips.”</p><p>“That would explain a lot,” Obi-Wan said, and the horror of what had actually happened fell on him yet again. “I had…. Part of me had assumed that it was….” words were failing him, and he could barely manage to say it. “We were your slavers, on some level,” he said finally. “If you had chosen…”</p><p>“No, General,” Kix said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t like that.”</p><p>“I don’t think Slick would have agreed with you,” Obi-Wan said quietly, and there was a flinch, and Obi-Wan was <em>once again</em> hurting Kix. That was unacceptable, and Obi-Wan had been <em>good</em> at this once. Or at least he had thought he had been good at talking to people, even if Mustafar - </p><p>“We did the best for you that we could,” Obi-Wan said slowly, making a quick mental note to add that to his meditations later. “And Plo and I tried to work with the Senate to get a Clone Rights Bill passed, and to add to the GAR regs to give you more protections, but we are…. We were peacekeepers, not politicians.”</p><p>“We were made for the Jedi,” Kix said, and Obi-Wan winced.</p><p>“You realize that doesn’t particularly help, in this case?” he asked dryly.</p><p>“But we wouldn’t have turned on you, General. Not without the chips forcing us to,” Kix said, and the urgency in his tone made Obi-Wan listen. “You were the only ones who really treated us well. The fact that you even tried to get us rights? That was… you have no idea how much that meant to us.”</p><p>“It was the bare minimum of decency,” Obi-Wan corrected.</p><p>“General,” Kix said again. “Sir. I know that what… what the 212th was forced to do to you hurts. But if they’d been in their right minds, they would never have done that to you. We would <em>never</em> have turned on you.”</p><p>Eighteen years of pain and self-doubt and betrayal were hard to get rid of, but Obi-Wan clung to Kix’s words. He had spent countless hours meditating on it, trying to figure out what had happened, what he had done, and to find out now that Palpatine had destroyed even more of Obi-Wan’s family was…. More than Obi-Wan could probably handle right now.</p><p>He would need to meditate on this later, but for now he took a deep breath, and released the pain to the Force.</p><p>“Thank you,” he said quietly. Obi-Wan nearly reached out to take Kix’s hand, as he knew just how much the troopers had valued touch - and it had been so long since he had touched anyone himself, when a thought crossed his mind.</p><p>“How did you get your chip out?” he asked.</p><p>“I actually haven’t yet,” Kix said, and Obi-Wan had to stop himself from moving away. After all the comfort Kix had given him, it would have been incredibly uncivilized. Memories that he would never forget of the Temple, of Utapau, and of the fear and silencing of the Force flashed through his mind, but he pushed it away. He could not let himself get caught in those memories, not now. </p><p>“It’s in my head,” Kix explained. “I need to find someone who can do the surgery, since Han and Chewie couldn’t, and I didn’t want to risk someone else.”</p><p>“That makes sense,” Obi-Wan agreed.</p><p>“General, if you need me to back away until I’ve got my chip out….” Kix said hesitantly.</p><p>For a second, Obi-Wan almost considered saying yes. But he had lost so much, and <em>Kix</em> had lost so much, that he wouldn’t dare risk hurting him again or losing their connection.</p><p>“No,” he said. “It’s fine. I know what it feels like in the Force, now, so if somehow your chip is triggered before we manage to get it out, I should be able to stop you without harming you. And we <em>will</em> get it out,” he promised. “I may not be able to tell you everything until it is taken out.” And it would be so nice to be able to talk to someone. If Kix even wanted to stay with him. Kix would be free after the chip was out, and surely he had better things to do than stay with a slightly broken Jedi.</p><p>“I understand that, and I trust you, General,” Kix said. “And if it comes to it, do <em>not</em> let me hurt you. Do whatever you have to do.”</p><p>Which would be completely unacceptable, and Obi-Wan had killed enough of the clones at the Jedi Temple, and he could not do it again. He was sure that Kix would no longer trust him after knowing that, and Kix <em>deserved</em> to know.</p><p>“We’ll just have to get the chip out of your head, then,” Obi-Wan said. “And as this is Tatooine, there are plenty of people with experience in doing just that.”</p><p>*</p><p>Amazingly, the borrowed speeder was still exactly where he’d left it, which, considering Obi-Wan’s normal luck was completely unexpected. (It was a good thing, or Beru would never forgive him.)</p><p>Kix had sent off a quick comm to Captain Solo, letting him know that Obi-Wan knew someone who could remove his chip. Their ride to the Lars farm was quiet. He could tell that Kix was apprehensive about an unknown person performing any sort of surgery, but it was paired with determination of finally being able to get that odious thing out of his head.</p><p>Beru was waiting for them when Obi-Wan pulled up. Unfortunately, so was Owen. Luckily, there was no sign of Luke. With the chip a possibility, it was even more urgent than normal that nobody should know about Luke. That Kix could not know about Luke.</p><p>The troopers would all have been so excited to have a baby general. Waxer would have...</p><p>“What could possibly have been so important that you had to come to my property and borrow my things after I’d told you to stay away?” Owen said before they’d even had a chance to get out of the speeder.</p><p>“Owen!” Beru said firmly. “Thank you for returning the speeder in one piece.”</p><p>“I do apologize, but it was urgent,” Obi-Wan said.</p><p>“And who is this you brought with you?” Owen said. “Someone else whose life you’re trying to ruin?”</p><p>Obi-Wan could feel Kix gearing up to defend him, which was quite unnecessary, but he knew exactly what he could say that would stop Owen before he began to rant.</p><p>Obi-Wan hadn’t known back when he’d first brought Luke to the Lars’ that the family was involved with the Tatooine Freedom Trail. He had actually known very little about Tatooine. Anakin had very rarely wanted to talk about it, and Obi-Wan had not pushed. He hadn’t even known for years that Qui-Gon hadn’t freed Shmi along with Anakin. He should have pushed more. Done more. The story of his life, truly.</p><p>Obi-Wan strongly suspected that at least part of the reason that Owen was so angry at him was that Obi-Wan’s early attempts at helping had drawn unnecessary attention to them and jeopardized those making their way to freedom.</p><p>Helping to free slaves was what Jedi were supposed to do. If only they had been able to do more…</p><p>“My friend here needs a singer,” he said quietly. “It’s in his head. Can you help?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5 - Kix and Obi-Wan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Kix gets the chip taken out of his head.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Apologies for the delay! Transitions are a pain, and my beta made me scrap the first attempts. Hopefully I'll return to a more stable update schedule now.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kix was used to General Kenobi just knowing a specific person who could get something done. Still, he was a little impressed that he had managed to find someone who could remove his chip on <em>Tatooine</em> of all places, but he supposed that it would make sense that Tatooine had a freedom trail, considering the amount of slaves that were still on the planet.</p>
<p>(After Zyggeria, he had overheard General Skywalker ranting angrily about how the Jedi didn’t do enough, how they had let his mother stay in slavery. But he had also overheard General Kenobi try to reach out to General Skywalker and seen General Skywalker push him away, and Kix had wondered if any of the Jedi had even known. Or why General Skywalker hadn’t asked the Chancellor for help.)</p>
<p>Kix desperately wanted to ask… well, he wasn’t sure where he could really start, but as they rode to get his chip removed it was in silence, since Kix knew that he couldn’t be trusted with the answers. Not yet. Not until the chip was gone. OpSec was important, and right now Kix was a liability.</p>
<p>The moisture farm had decent security for being out in the middle of nowhere, and the people who lived there clearly expected the General, but not Kix. They didn’t seem particularly friendly, and Kix <em>bristled</em> when he heard the man accuse General Kenobi of trying to ruin <em>anyone’s</em> life.</p>
<p>He was about to give them a piece of his mind, chip or no chip, when General Kenobi explained why they were there, and the hostility faded, at least for the moment. Kix was rushed to another room by the woman (Beru, she’d introduced herself as) and followed by the General, as the man stalked off, muttering about finding some work to distract someone named Luke.</p>
<p>It was a simple room, only a hodgepodge of equipment, clearly scrounged from somewhere, nothing that was up to GAR standards. Obviously they made do, and Kix had to put his faith in General Kenobi. General Kenobi would not do anything that would hurt him.</p>
<p>Beru looked at the General. “It’s going to be difficult, with it in his head.”</p>
<p>“I’ll put him to sleep,” General Kenobi said. He turned to Kix, who was laying on the table. “That is, if you will trust me?”</p>
<p>“Of course,” Kix said without hesitation. “That was never in question.”</p>
<p>“I am honored by your trust,” General Kenobi said quietly. “Are you ready?”</p>
<p>Kix shook his head. “Let me tell you what I know about the chip first,” he said, and the General smiled. </p>
<p>“My apologies, Kix, I just wanted to get that out of you as soon as possible. Rushing ahead like that is usually more...” he trailed off, and Kix mentally finished the sentence in his head. <em>Usually more like General Skywalker.</em></p>
<p>Kix turned to Beru and traced a finger over where he knew the chip was, assuming that it was in the same place in every single one of them. From what he knew of the Kaminoans, he was pretty sure that it was.</p>
<p>“It should be a pretty easy removal,” he said. “I mean, a med droid would be preferable, but you should be able to remove it.”</p>
<p>Kix wished that he had someone he trusted, preferably another brother, to do this surgery. But he would do what he had always done, and put his faith in the Jedi. He would be fine. General Kenobi would make sure of it.</p>
<p>General Kenobi placed a hand on Kix’s head. “Sleep.”</p>
<p>General Kenobi’s use of the Force was gentler than General Skywalker’s, and Kix knew no more.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Beru carefully made the incision and began the process of removing the chip, while Obi-Wan concentrated on keeping Kix asleep. The level of trust that Kix showed in him was bringing up all sorts of emotions, and Obi-Wan knew that he would need to meditate on it later. He’d need to deal with how it felt to come face to face with his past, to a trooper he had known, who still had that level of trust in him, as if Obi-Wan could do no wrong.</p>
<p>Even more, he needed to reconsider the facts of the last eighteen years, and how everything he had thought he had known about why the 212th had fired on him, about why the Jedi had been killed, was wrong. It was yet another level that he had failed on - another fundamental truth of his life that had been shaken up. He should have known that the 212th would never have turned on them, that the clones would never have turned on the Jedi. But after Anakin, well, Obi-Wan had been far too willing to believe the worst of people.</p>
<p>Beru was rather good at this, Obi-Wan thought clinically, as he watched her. He would have to find a way to support her more. She was doing the sort of good that the Jedi had used to do, and that Obi-Wan wished he could still do. (But Owen had a point, and Obi-Wan would draw far too much attention, and just bring harm to Luke. So he would just do what he could to help in small ways.)</p>
<p>Beru grimaced as she was finally able to remove the chip. “Whoever made this was cruel,” she said. “Even the slavers here don’t put chips in people’s heads.”</p>
<p>“The Empire,” Obi-Wan told her, while he tried to project a feeling of calm and peace. It was not a skill he had used often, these last years. “The chips are what caused them to kill us.”</p>
<p>“So he is a clone?” Beru asked.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan nodded and then realized she couldn’t necessarily see him. It had been so long since he’d had someone to really speak to regularly. “Yes,” he said. “One of… one of Anakin’s troopers. He was captured and put in Cryostasis right before everything happened.”</p>
<p>She was starting to stitch up the incision. “It will scar,” she told him, and Obi-Wan tried not to imagine it was Cody there. “But it will be faint.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Obi-Wan said.</p>
<p>Beru finished her stitching before she met his eye. “Eighteen year, Obi-Wan,” she said. “If you have learned anything about us in eighteen years, it’s that you never need to thank us for helping free slaves.”</p>
<p>“For trusting me, then,” Obi-Wan offered, <em>needing</em> to thank her, since he knew how hard it was to allow him into their space. “Even with such a good reason, I know Owen must not have been pleased.”</p>
<p>Beru returned to her work, not responding. “Don’t let him wake up yet,” she instructed. “Give it a few more minutes. And Owen… he wants to protect his family, you know that.”</p>
<p>Of which Obi-Wan was not. He would never again be considered a member of the extended Skywalker clan, had lost all the rights to that, and Obi-Wan could not blame the Lars’ for that choice.</p>
<p>“What are you going to do with him?” Owen said as he walked into the operating area. “I’ve got Luke working on the furthest vaporators for now.”</p>
<p>“How long a recovery will he need?” Obi-Wan asked.</p>
<p>Beru hummed. “We’re used to doing this quickly, you know that. I’m only more concerned because of where it was located. I’d like to wait at least a few hours before you leave.”</p>
<p>“Can your weird powers heal him?” Owen interrupted. “I don’t want Luke near either of you, and I can only delay him so long.”</p>
<p>“Healing has unfortunately never been an area I was able to concentrate in, although I’ve had to learn more out of necessity these last years,” Obi-Wan said slowly. He could understand why Owen wouldn’t want Luke near him, but Kix had done nothing wrong, and didn’t deserve Owen’s wrath.</p>
<p>“Well, I need him out before he starts telling Luke any stories.”</p>
<p>“And for protection,” Beru added. “You said he was one of Anakin’s troopers, if he knew Anakin at all, he’ll likely see a resemblance in Luke.”</p>
<p>That was a reasoning that Obi-Wan could accept. “Of course,” he said. “Shall I begin waking him up then?”</p>
<p>Beru nodded, and Obi-Wan began to (slowly, safely, patiently) release the compulsion he’d left on Kix. He watched as the medic’s eyes began to flutter open.</p>
<p>“General?” Kix asked. “How did it go?”</p>
<p>“It went perfectly,” Obi-Wan assured him, and he helped Kix sit up. “You’re free now.”</p>
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